The biggest cause to get a projector is because its image can be , well , self-aggrandizing . When you first experience watching a blockbuster movie , or playing a game , or jolly along on your local sports squad in your living room with the motion picture taking up most of your rampart , it ’s exciting and intoxicating . But if you ’re watch out that wall - sized mental picture on the literal rampart , you ’re not only visually doing yourself ( and the money you spent onan excellent projector ) a ill service , you ’re affect the projector ’s performance . Potentially to a drastic degree .
Now , if you ’re using a pico projector or something that ’s designed for its portability that only costs a few hundred dollar , by all means use a bulwark for some agile temporary viewing or to have on in the background . But if the whole idea was to supervene upon your television receiver with a projector , it ’s crucial to understand why you should block up using a rampart as your screen airfoil .
Why you shouldn’t use your bare wall
As you step back and admire your rampart — and perchance the attempt you put in to that new coat of rouge — it probably looks fairly decent . Even coverage , a nice solid color , and no extra markings ( until your kid get close with a crayon ) . Look closer , though , and the texture from the paint and the wallboard becomes speedily evident . With the blusher job in my life room , I can even see the texture from a normal viewing distance . When you figure on to that texture , it in turn bear on the grain and keenness of the picture , degrading the range of a function and keep down perceive resolution .
A jutting covert , on the other hand , has a importantly suave surface . Even older or less expensive silver screen that have a small amount of texture are miles in the lead of a painted paries . you may see below a comparison of the wall a few inch to the left of my screen ( left effigy ) and theStewart FilmscreenGrayHawk screen Earth’s surface , both taken from about a foot out .
It ’s not just unwanted add texture that a paint wall instills on the range of a function . Projection screens are design to be inert and not bear on the color of the image being projected onto them ( I ’ll admit , some sieve are better at this than others ) , as well as boost the brightness of a projected image and ameliorate demarcation , depending on the screen material . A paint wall will do none of that ( at least on intention ) . This is even more important for ultra - brusk throw ( UST ) projectors that work comfortably with an ALR ( Ambient Light Rejecting ) projection screen that is design to reflect the light being contrive at it from below or above towards the viewer ’s eyes at their seating attitude .
The contrast performance is the biggest vexation to me , as projectors already have issues with demarcation when compared to other display options ( for instance TVs ) . By projecting on a painted paries that reduces brightness or lifts bleak grade — or both — a projector that could be getting 1000:1 will underachieve . ( As an aside , most contrast measurements issue by manufacturer are drastically inflate and should n’t be drive as accurate . )
Really what it come down to is this : You ’ve drop hard - earned money on a projector , but by see on a wall , you ’re decrease the value of that purchase . So what can you do ?
The best projection screen options
You do n’t postulate to spend thousands of dollars to get something better than your rampart — although you perfectly can . If you ’ve spent up to $ 2,000 on a projector , I ’d recommend budgeting at least $ 200 - 300 for a sieve . And as the Mary Leontyne Price of the projector goes up , increase the screen budget . If you ’re planning to drop $ 16k to outfit your home theatre room with a JVC DLA - NZ8 or Sony Bravia Projector 8 , you ’ll emphatically want to count something like the Stewart StudioTek 130 ( a bit of an industry monetary standard for quite some time ) . But for the rest of us , what are some of the options out there ?
Which option is unspoiled will bet on your current post , but the most important thing you may do for your projector is get it off the rampart and onto a protrusion screenland .
